Abiomed, Opsware, TiVo, more

Advancers

Abiomed Inc.
ABMD, -0.98%
shares ended Thursday with a 6.3% gain after the company said it's received the green light from the Food and Drug Administration to start a pilot clinical trial for the company's Impella 2.5 ventricular assist device for use during "high-risk" angioplasties. Under terms of the approval, the Danvers, Mass., medical device company must submit additional information to the FDA over the next 45 days. Abiomed plans to conduct the pilot investigation on the Impella 2.5 with no more than seven hospitals and 20 patients.

Shares of Alkermes Inc.
ALKS, -0.50%
added 7.8% after the company was upgraded by Pacific Growth Equities to buy from neutral.

Big Lots Inc.
BLI
shares soared 20.7% after the company said its first-quarter net income rose 76% to $13.7 million, or 12 cents a share, with sales up 5% to $1.09 billion. The closeout retailer said its earnings from continuing operations of 6 cents a share topped analyst forecasts by a penny. It lifted its earnings from continuing operations guidance to a new range of 44 cents to 49 cents a share. Second-quarter comparable-store sales are seen rising 1% to 4%, and it expects to narrow its quarterly loss from continuing operations to a range of 7 cents to 10 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call were looking for a second-quarter loss of 8 cents and earnings of 37 cents for the year.

EBay Inc.
EBAY, +1.87%
shares surged 12.2% after the company was upgraded to overweight from neutral weight by Prudential Equity Group, with the broker saying the steep drop in the stock this year makes the valuation attractive. Separately, the online auctioneer and Yahoo Inc.
YHOO, +0.85%
said they have formed a broad strategic partnership that spans over advertising, online payments, a co-branded toolbar and the exploration of 'click to call' functionality. See full story. Yahoo shares gained as well.

Shares of Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc.
ENCY
rallied 16.5% after the company said it has submitted the information requested by the FDA in an approvable letter issued March 24 for the company's drug Thelin, a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension. Encysive said it expects to hear within 30 days as to whether the information is sufficient. Shares of Encysive were up 15% at $4.38 in pre-market trade.

Flowers Foods Inc.
FLO, +13.33%
shares moved higher by 5.4% after the company reported first-quarter net income rose 15% to $22.9 million, or 37 cents a share, with revenue up 11% to $563 million on sales of Nature's Own products. For the period ended April 22, earnings from continuing operations at the Thomasville, Ga., bakery-products maker were 36 cents a share, topping Thomson First Call-compiled estimates by three cents. It reiterated its 2006 adjusted earnings should be $1.10 to $1.19 a share on revenue of $1.87 billion to $1.9 billion.

Furniture Brands International Inc.
FBN
shares tacked on 6.1% after the company was upgraded by Credit Suisse to neutral from underperform.

General Motors Corp.
GM, +3.40%
shares closed up 5.2% after a local Detroit newspaper reported more than 20,000 hourly workers at GM have accepted buyout offers. With a month remaining before the deadline, that puts GM ahead of its targeted goal of 30,000 by 2008, the Detroit News said, citing sources familiar with the situation.

Shares of Hoku Scientific Inc.
HOKU
rocketed higher by 37.9% after the company said the first two of a planned 10 proton exchange membrane fuel cell power plant systems were officially accepted by the Navy. The company said the systems were accepted following testing at Hoku's facility in Kapolei, Hawaii. It expects the additional eight systems over the next several weeks.

JLG Industries Inc.
JLG, +0.87%
stock ticked higher by 6.7% after the company reported third-quarter net income rose to 43 cents a share from 24 cents in the year-earlier period. The latest period was boosted by an 8-cent gain from the sale of its excavator business. The year-ago period reflects a 4-cent charge from the early extinguishment of debt.

Metal Management Inc.
MTLM
shares rose 6.3% after the company said fourth-quarter net income rose 39% to $22.6 million, or 86 cents a share, from $16.2 million, or 64 cents a share in the year-ago period. Revenue fell to $434 million from $462 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call forecast earnings of 67 cents a share and revenue of $413.7 million, on average. The company said it plans an "aggressive" capital expenditure program in 2006, with spending of $65-$75 million.

Osi Systems Inc.
OSIS, +1.59%
shares ended up 7.6% after the company said it won $125 million in damages from L-3 Communications Inc. A federal court jury in New York City found that L-3
LLL, +0.09%
breached its fiduciary duty to and committed fraud against Osi in connection with the purchase of the Perkin Elmer Security Detection Systems business in 2002. In addition, the jury also found Osi breached a confidentiality agreement and awarded L-3 nominal damages of $1. L-3 has said it would appeal.

SBA Communications Corp.
SBAC, -0.75%
shares closed with a 6.7% gain after the company was upgraded by Raymond James to outperform from market perform.

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.
SIRI, -0.11%
shares surged 14.7% after the company affirmed that it expects to have more than 6.2 million subscribers by the end of 2006, an 87% increase over its subscriber base at the end of 2005.

Shares of SkyWest Corp.
SKYW, +3.59%
added 8.8% after the company was upgraded by Raymond James to strong buy from outperform.

Sterling Construction Co.
STRL, -2.79%
stock gained 6% after coverage of the company was initiated by Sidoti & Co. with a buy rating and a 12-month price target of $38.

Decliners

Blue Coat Systems Inc.
BCSI
shares ended Thursday down 20% after the company said a charge, among other items, related to the acquisition of Permeo Technologies Inc. caused the company to swing to a fourth-quarter net loss of 19 cents a share from net income of 21 cents in the year-earlier period.

Shares of Coldwater Creek Inc.
CWTR
fell 5.9% after the company reported first-quarter earnings rose to 12 cents a share from 9 cents in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 38% to $215.3 million from $155.6 million.

Shares of Omnicare Inc.
OCR, -1.20%
slumped 7.4% after the company issued a press release Wednesday criticizing the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for its views on long-term care facilities. Omnicare, which operates a chain of nursing facilities, said proposed safeguards regarding Part D medications don't take into account the needs of long-term care patients.

Opsware Inc.
OPSW
stock gave back 6.6% after the company said non-cash charges relating to acquisitions widened the first-quarter net loss to 6 cents a share from 5 cents in the year-earlier period. The software company reported revenue of $22 million, up from $12.6 million.

Shares of SciClone Pharmaceuticals
SCLN, -0.97%
tumbled 10.5% after the San Mateo, Calif., company reported disappointing results in a phase III trial involving its lead product Zadaxin. The company said the trial was designed to evaluate the benefit of adding Zadaxin to pegylated interferon alpha treatment for hepatitis C patients with early cirrhosis of the liver who failed prior therapy. The trial found the addition of Zadaxin didn't demonstrate a statistically significant improvement compared to the pegylated interferon alpha treatment alone.

TiVo Inc.
TIVO, +0.70%
shares closed 9.8% to the downside Thursday. Chief Executive Tom Rogers told analysts on a conference call that the company is confident that it will prevail in a patent-infringement lawsuit against satellite provider EchoStar Communications Corp.
DISH, -1.55%
TiVo also said its first-quarter loss widened due to the costs of its lawsuit against EchoStar, reduced prices, and expensing of stock options. The loss was 13 cents a share, compared with 1 cent in the year-earlier period.

The9 Ltd.
NCTY, +0.08%
shares slumped 13% in Thursday's session. The company swung to first-quarter earnings of 58.8 million yuan ($7.3 million), or 2.42 yuan (30 cents) an American depositary share, from a net loss of 10.5 million yuan, or 0.43 yuan an ADS, in the year-earlier period.

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